The pound is down against the euro and the dollar ahead of the Prime Minister’s speech in Florence. Economists said reaction to the speech by EU officials would have a major bearing on the pound’s performance * Theresa May to ask EU to be ‘creative’ in Florence speech * Follow the politics blog for rolling coverage of May’s crucial Brexit speech * Uber loses London licence in shock decision by TfL * Eurozone growth accelerated to 0.7% in third quarter, surveys signal 1.33pm BST OVER TO GREECE NOW, WHERE THE GERMAN ELECTION OVER THE WEEKEND WILL BE CLOSELY WATCHED AMID MOUNTING ANTICIPATION THE OUTCOME WILL LIKELY AFFECT ATHENS’ BID FOR DEBT RELIEF. _HELENA SMITH REPORTS._ 12.46pm BST WHILE TFL REVEALED IT WOULD NOT BE RENEWING UBER’S LONDON LICENCE, THE CBI PUBLISHED ITS LATEST INDUSTRIAL TRENDS REPORT. The business lobby group said the pace of growth in UK manufacturing output eased in the third quarter, but the outlook “remains strong”. The survey of 429 manufacturers found that while output growth slowed last quarter, largely driven by the food and drink sector, the rate of growth remained well above the long-run average. Respondents expect output growth to bounce back next quarter, broadly matching the robust pace seen in the three months to July and August. Both total orders books and export order books remained strong, although total order books softened somewhat on August. The deterioration was relatively broad-based with 9 of the 17 sub-sectors reporting a decline relative to August. Continue reading...